Rood: Cut to heating aid wasn't as bad as state had first estimated

Reader's Watchdog

Feb. 4, 2012

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Scam heads up: Grandparents, beware of callers purporting to be your grandchildren. According to officials in the attorney general’s office, a scam has resurfaced in Iowa in which con artists pretending to be grandchildren prey on the elderly. Bill Brauch, who heads the attorney general’s consumer protection division, said his office has received several complaints lately from people who have been hit up over the phone for money. “It’s a phone call that comes out of the blue, saying: ‘Grandma, can you help me?’ ” Brauch said. “Grandma thinks she recognizes the voice.” The caller may say they’ve been arrested for something like fishing on tribal land, and they need to have money wired, Brauch said. “And the caller says, ‘Please don’t tell Mom and Dad.’ ” “Unfortunately, all too often, people fall for it.” Brauch said. “It’s totally bogus. The perpetrators could be anywhere in the world. And once you wire money, it’s gone.” To the reader who said he smelled a rat regarding a situation at the political consulting firm Link Strategies and a grant awarded recently by Prairie Meadows to Link Associates. There is no connection. Note the difference in names. Link Associates provides transportation to people with disabilities; Link Strategies boasts of years of experience managing campaigns, directing research, grass-roots lobbying and government relations. Call for help: I am doing research on prescription drug overdose deaths for a future story or column. Please continue to call me regarding recent cases. Also, John Maloney, a reader whose son’s overdose death was included in an article two weeks ago, wants to start a nonprofit called People Against Opiate Abuse to advocate for the investigation and prosecution of opiate dealers. Maloney can be reached at paoaj4@hotmail.com.

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When Mary Swan went to re-enroll for heat assistance, she was told her aid would be reduced by 50 percent because of federal funding cuts.

But Swan, of Tipton, read an article last month in The Des Moines Register that said funding had only been slashed by 25 percent.

What gives, the 67-year-old antiques dealer wondered.

Swan is among thousands of low-income Iowans, seniors and veterans who rely on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to help pay their winter heating bills.

Jerry McKim, state director of that program, says Swan isn’t the only one who wants to know why the aid was cut.

Congress actually cut funding by about 24 percent, reducing the total amount of energy assistance awarded in Iowa from $71 million to $55 million.

That means an average one-time benefit of $400 to each household this year, compared with $560 last year.

The reason for the confusion: The state is forced to estimate the aid available in the fall, and at that time the Obama administration had recommended a 50 percent cut, he said.

Later, Congress scrounged up additional funding.

The good news? Swan and other recipients should be getting another supplemental payment, most likely in the spring, McKim said.

“People who have signed up won’t have to do anything,” he said. “It shows up as a credit on their bill.”

But even with the supplement, the amount of aid will still be smaller than years past due to funding cuts and high demand.

Applications for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program are taken from Oct. 1 to April 30. Each recipient’s aid is based on a point system.

“People at lower levels of poverty get more points,” McKim said.

Almost 69,000 households took advantage of the heat assistance through December. The beauty of the program is that customers cannot be disconnected if they are enrolled in the program. Last year, more than 95,000 Iowa households qualified.

But more than 265,800 Iowa households have past due accounts, according to the most recent statistics from the Iowa Utilities Board.

“The real story here is that more and more people are struggling to stay current,” said McKim. “At some point, this becomes a public health issue if they are disconnected and have to heat their homes by other means.”

McKim wants people to know that they have some legal protection even if they don’t qualify for the program.

For example, they can forestall being disconnected if the temperature is 20 degrees or colder at the time. Once every year, any household can delay disconnection for health and safety reasons, he said. Usually, that requires a physician’s statement.

“But if you miss the first or second payment of a payment plan, you don’t have the same rights anymore,” McKim said.

Dozens of members of Congress are fighting to restore funding to 2011 levels during the program year that runs from October 2012 to September 2013.

Swan is one of thousands of Americans who hopes they will. Last year, she got $440, then another $110 supplement. This year, she’s qualified for only $200 so far.

“It’s not a pretty picture,” she said. “But I still have some assets. There are thousands of people in worse shape than I am.”

Lee Rood’s Reader’s Watchdog column attempts to find answers and accountability for Iowans from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her at lrood@dmreg.com or by calling (515) 284-8549. To read past columns, go to www.desmoines register.com/watchdog.